Rosemount Football head coach to run for House

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Jeff Erdmann, the head coach of the football team and American Government teacher announced his plans last spring to run in the 2018 midterm elections. His first step on the way to Washington is entering the Democratic primary, and at the moment his only opponent is Angie Craig who lost last year to the current incumbent Jason Lewis.

What made him decide to run? He references something he says at every start of the school year centering around standing up for a bullied student, “a: Is it funny to laugh [at the student], b: you ignore it, or c: you stand up and say something about it. A and B are the same answer. If you do nothing about it, that shows that you’re okay with this behavior and it will manifest itself over and over again. After this election, our family is choosing C. I’m not okay with the direction the country is going.” He’s talking about the important role everyone plays in shaping the culture of RHS. Erdmann has been devoted to shaping the culture of Rosemount for many years, taking the football team to the state tournament season ten times and teaching here for 20 years.

“If we keep sending millionaires and billionaires to Congress, they don’t understand what regular people are going through. And that’s a very frustrating part for me.” Erdmann said. He’s right, according to OpenSecrets.org in 2015, 50.8 percent of Congress were millionaires or richer. The composition of Congress has also shifted from common people and veterans in the mid-20th century to businessmen and rich entrepreneurs.

The last time a Democrat won our congressional district was 1998 and obviously to any party, this would be a daunting task to end a losing streak of 20 years. Erdmann is optimistic, he says “I think people want change, there are lots of people standing up for the first time getting involved in the political process and I think there are Democrats and Republicans that are very frustrated with the direction their party is going.” It is true what he’s saying, many people are predicting a Democratic wave in the 2018 midterms due to many factors like President Trump’s unpopularity, enthusiasm on the left and divisions on the right. And this has happened recently too, with the “Republican Revolution” in 1994, a Democratic wave in 2006 and the Tea Party in 2010.

One thing students learn from Erdmann’s classes is that when people want change in government, the House is the first to flip. Erdmann is gunning to be that change.